Chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy remains a major cause of death due to heart failure in Latin American countries and for which there is currently no effective treatment. While chagasic patients wait for the development of more efficient and less toxic chemotherapeutics for the elimination of Trypanosoma cruzi, a new strategy has appeared in an attempt to repair or ameliorate the damage caused to the myocardium of patients with chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy. This therapy, involving the transplant of bone marrow cells obtained from the patient to be treated, may lead to improvement in heart function and in life quality of patients with severe chagasic cardiopathy, similar to that obtained with this approach in the treatment of patients with heart failure of ischemic etiology. The possible effects of cell therapies and its applications in chronic chagasic cardiopaths are discussed in the present report.
Chagas' disease; Cardiomyopathy; Stem cells; Bone marrow; Autologous transplant
